I also found this raw snack bar in a Berlin organic shop: Goji Chia Chai and it was delicious. Sweet and tangy and fairly spicy. It has a really good combination of spices (cinnamon, cardamom, all spice, cloves and cayenne pepper). The cayenne does dominate the flavour slightly so only for you if you like it hot!

Not sure if it is available outside of Germany, but look out for it if you come to Germany. I’m fairly sure there were also other flavours available.

I’ve seen Govinda branded raw products in the shops for years but never tried them before, possibly because they always seem quite expensive compared to comparable products, although the pack size is quite large. But anyway, in one of the many organic shops in Berlin I spotted Erdzipan balls (I’m not sure exactly what this product is called in English, but it is raw tiger nut marzipan, tiger nuts are also known as chufa), along with a selection of other raw foods including Om Bar raw chocolate bars. I love marzipan so I decided to give it a try.

Tiger nuts can supposedly help prevent heart disease and thrombosis, activate blood circulation and reduce the risk of colon cancer. They are rich in energy and protein, minerals and vitamins E and C. So quite a superfood.

Unfortunately I wasn’t completely impressed. The texture is amazing, but they are far too sweet for me and the bitter almond flavour (the classic marzipan flavour) is almost none existent. I should have checked the ingredients list slightly better before purchasing: only 20% tiger nuts, so almost 80% dates. Of course I’m sure many people will like these, just not me!

I was in Lisbon at the weekend so I took the opportunity to visit some organic/wholefood shops and I spotted this savoury raw snack bar – I’m always looking out for new products for the monthly snack box so I got one to try.

The concept is great, Brazil nuts, sun dried tomatoes, onion, garlic and herbs (although strangely given it’s name there is no sage in it), but for me it was far too salty. Salt isn’t a separate ingredient, it just comes with the sun dried tomatoes.

Also, some of the sun dried tomatoes were not broken down very well, one was a whole half tomato and very difficult to chew.

I guess you will find these in organic shops in the UK, otherwise they can be purchased direct from LifeFood. If you do try one, let me know in the comments below what you think – I was maybe unlucky with the large pieces of tomato, and as I don’t use much salt myself I’m more sensitive to it when in foods like this.

When I picked up this package of “Naked & Raw Cacao Truffles”, the first thing I noticed was the delicious smell, before I’d even opened the jiffy bag they came in. Then the beautiful rustic box they were packed in.

This range of raw chocolate truffles are all made from the same basic recipe of cacao paste, medjool dates and coconut oil, and then each type is dusted with its flavour.

They were all delicious, but I think the ginger ones were my favourite. Perfect soft texture, intense chocolate flavour combined with spicy ginger, delicious.

The strawberry truffles were also amazing, they had what I assume was pieces of freeze dried strawberry embedded in to the truffle, so tasty!

Coffee was also delicious, although maybe too much stimulation for me!

After this range of amazing flavours, the truffles dusted in cacao powder were a bit plain for me, although still delicious.

The only truffles I didn’t like were the chilli ones, the chilli was just too intense for me, these are reserved for people who really like their mouth to be on fire with cacao and chilli…

There are also maca and cinnamon truffles available, I didn’t get to try those but I’m sure they are both also delicious.

Because they are so good they are now available on the Funky Raw website. When you place your order, they are made to order for you so you get them as fresh as possible.

One of the things I love about my job is all the free samples I get sent to try out. A couple of weeks ago I got sent samples of a new range of raw chocolate bars by Mulu. I remember a long time ago I used to really like Mulu bars, but I stopped eating and selling them because they contained agave which I found was not healthy. So when I was told these new bars are sweetened with SugaVida I was very excited to try them.

And wow, I wasn’t disappointed. They are my new favourite raw chocolate bars! There are five bars in the range, four of which are “milk” chocolate style, using coconut cream as a vegan replacement for milk, and the other is a dark chocolate bar.

All the “milk” chocolate bars are amazing, the best raw “milk” chocolate I have ever tried. I’ll go through each flavour, in approximate order of which was my favourite, although the first three pretty much tie for first place.

Chai – Amazing. “Milk” chocolate with Indian chai spices, absolutely perfect. Containing cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and cloves, plus vanilla.

Hazelnut – Also amazing! Containing both hazelnut pieces and hazelnut butter, which gives a delicious hazelnut flavour and crunchy texture, along with the creamy “milk” chocolate.

Coconut – Basically a plain “milk” chocolate bar, so creamy with all that coconut cream.

Banana – This is a unique idea, creamy “milk” chocolate flavoured with dried banana powder.

85% – This is the dark chocolate bar. For me this wasn’t quiet as exciting as the rest of the range, the coconut cream really is the standout point of these new bars, and this one doesn’t contain any. But still a good chocolate bar.

SugaVida (palmyra Jaggery) is the sweetener from a plam tree, claimed to be even better than coconut sugar, containing more minerals and having a glycemic index of 40. They even claim it has vitamin B12, I’ve not checked into this but personally I wouldn’t rely on it! [Edit: Ben from Mulu contacted me and said that they have had this tested in the lab and that it does have B12 in it, although I still personally wouldn’t rely on this as my only source of B12.]

We’ve now got these bars for sale at Funky Raw with a special introductory discount of 10%. Plus we have a selection pack with one bar of each flavour with an even larger saving.

This is quite a unique product so I was intrigued to sample it. It’s got one single ingredient, organic Jerusalem artichoke, which is grated and dried to produce a snack. It is very crispy, but does soften quickly once in your mouth. And strangely, the flavour does remind me of crisps (regular cooked potato crisps), there is even a slight fatty flavour like crisps! The flavour is very subtle, and slightly balnd, I found I preferred to eat them with a pinch of Himalayan salt. I’m sure you could add other flavours, maybe a dash of curry powder would work if you like it spicy.

Jerusalem artichoke is a pre-biotic which means it feeds the beneficial bacteria in your stomach, helping your digestive system.

This product is made with Jerusalem artichoke grown organically in Slovakia. You can order them direct from the producers at the Erbology website. They cost £1.99 for a 30g bag or £3.99 for a 100g bag.

I just got sent the new raw snack bars from Purple Balance to review. Firstly, the packaging is perfect – bright and colourful, you can’t miss them in the shops:

For me, I’m very happy that they are sweetened with raw honey (the same top quality raw honey we sell on Funky Raw), which seems quite a rarity in ready made raw foods. This is along with dates means there is no refined sweeteners, not even coconut sugar. All the bars are great, with a wonderful moist and chewy texture.

The Lemon Pie was probably my favourite. A good strong lemon flavour, great soft and chewy texture, 45g is just too small!

The “Wild Pecan Choco Cake” was also delicious! It was chewy with a little bit of crunch from the pecans and hazelnuts. The flavour was great, mild chocolate flavour, sweet but not too sweet.

The Goji and Vanilla Cookie was also very tasty. With 28% goji berries you can see the deep red colour of the bar. Plus the vanilla flavour comes though making this a top quality snack.

The Raspberry Cake was slightly disappointing. Same great chewy texture as the others, but the raspberry flavour was very light. I got bursts of it now and again. Although having experimented with raspberry powder myself trying to make raspberry flavoured cakes, I know how difficult it is. 5% raspberry doesn’t give much flavour compared to only 0.2% vanilla in the goji bar giving a wonderful flavour!

All in all, to be recommended. They are made in the UK, and you should be able to find them in your local health food store. If not, ask them to start stocking them. The recommended retail price is £1.89, so a bargain for taking with you as a nutritious snack, and because I like them so much, I decided to stock them at Funky Raw. We’re currently selling them by the case of 18 for £28.99, so only £1.61 per bar. Update: We are now also stocking a four pack sampler with one of each flavour so you can see for yourself which is best!